1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a filler for heat-sensitive recording paper and also to a process for producing the same. More particularly, it is concerned with an amorphous silica-based filler for heat-sensitive recording paper which has a high oil absorbancy and a low degree of base paper discoloration, and also with a process for producing said filler.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the recent development and progress of office automation, new media, etc. in the information-oriented society, there is an increasing demand for a variety of recording papers for information-related equipment. Most noticeable among them is leuco dye-based heat-sensitive recording paper for facsimile and printers. It utilizes the color reaction which takes place when a colorless leuco dye and a phenol compound melt together on heating.
Heat-sensitive recording paper of this type has a disadvantage that the melt tends to stick to and accumulate on the thermal head of a printer at the time of color development. A known method to overcome this disadvantage is to incorporate the color forming layer of recording paper with a filler having a high oil absorbancy. A common example of such a filler is amorphous silica having a high oil absorbancy, as disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 22794/1984. It has a pk.sub.a of +3.3 to -3.0, an oil absorption value of 130 to 160 ml/100 g, a nitrogen adsorption specific surface area of 35 to 75 m.sup.2 /g (by BET method), and a water vapor adsorption specific surface area of 210 to 250 m.sup.2 /g (by BET method). This silica filler hardly poses the above-mentioned problems.
This silica filler, however, has another disadvantage of discoloring the base of heat-sensitive recording paper. This discoloration occurs because the amorphous silica of high oil absorbancy, which is usually produced by decomposing alkali silicate by wet process in the presence of water, promotes the reaction of a leuco dye with a phenol compound on account of its high surface activity. This disadvantage is not completely eliminated even by the amorphous silica described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 22794/1984 mentioned above.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,509,064 discloses a filler for a heat-sensitive recording paper comprising finely divided amorphous silica having a BET specific surface area of 10 to 100 m.sup.2 /g and a bulk density of 0.14 to 0.30 g/cc, said finely divided amorphous silica having such a secondary particle size distribution that secondary particles having a size smaller than 4 microns, as measured by the centrifugal precipitation method, occupy at least 90% by weight of the total particles.